Crazy Eddie's Record and Tape Asylum!!

Found this vintage commercial on YouTube and just had to share cuz it made me smile. Those of you from the New York area probably remember this guy's commercials as well as I do!

There was a Crazy Eddie store in my home town and it was my "home base" for buying records & tapes for much of the '80s. I can vouch for the claim that his music prices were, in fact, "insane."

They were also the first record store I'd ever been to that had a special section of the store devoted to "METAL" -- complete with a cheesy hand drawn sign atop the display of the words "HEAVY METAL" in bleeding letters, with lightning in the background, topped by a dime-store plastic sword.

Man, I miss this place. They really dont' make'em like this anymore.

I did not have a Crazy Eddie's but those prices are INSAAAAAAAAAAAAAANEEEEEEEEE!!

didnt he get busted for Tax Evasion or something? I remember those commericals as I got Channel 11 out of NY growing up.

exact33 wrote:

didnt he get busted for Tax Evasion or something? I remember those commericals as I got Channel 11 out of NY growing up.

Grew up in PA so I knew Crazy Eddie all too well. Channel 11 was WPIX, right? I remember Crazy Eddie more for electronics and home appliances though.

And yeah, he was busted for some kind of shady financial issue.

tohostudios wrote:

exact33 wrote:

didnt he get busted for Tax Evasion or something? I remember those commericals as I got Channel 11 out of NY growing up.

Grew up in PA so I knew Crazy Eddie all too well. Channel 11 was WPIX, right? I remember Crazy Eddie more for electronics and home appliances though.

And yeah, he was busted for some kind of shady financial issue.

yep - Channel 11 was WPIX. I think he also advertised like mad on WWOR Channel 9 as well. His commercials did focus on tv's a lot. I think he was in business the same time morton downey jr. was riding his 15 minutes of fame...

You can find anything on the internet.

http://pocketcalculatorshow.com/crazyeddie/

exact33 wrote:

didnt he get busted for Tax Evasion or something?

Securities fraud, I believe. As the chain was starting to go down the drain he fiddled with the books and then tried to skip to Israel with a sh*t load of the company's money. He was caught, extradited back to the U.S. and did some time. It was quite the news story in its day. "Duuuude! Crazy Eddie's going to jail!"

Fat Freddy wrote:

exact33 wrote:

didnt he get busted for Tax Evasion or something?

Securities fraud, I believe. As the chain was starting to go down the drain he fiddled with the books and then tried to skip to Israel with a sh*t load of the company's money. He was caught, extradited back to the U.S. and did some time. It was quite the news story in its day. "Duuuude! Crazy Eddie's going to jail!"

tohostudios wrote:

exact33 wrote:

didnt he get busted for Tax Evasion or something? I remember those commericals as I got Channel 11 out of NY growing up.

Grew up in PA so I knew Crazy Eddie all too well. Channel 11 was WPIX, right? I remember Crazy Eddie more for electronics and home appliances though.

And yeah, he was busted for some kind of shady financial issue.

Same here. I remember the commercials, but I don't think I was ever in one of the stores. I remember Saturday Night Live doing a parody of them with Jim Belushi that was pretty funny.

I wish record/CD stores like Crazy Eddie's still existed, a store that big with that much inventory, I could get lost shopping and looking around in a store that big.

manny wrote:

I wish record/CD stores like Crazy Eddie's still existed, a store that big with that much inventory, I could get lost shopping and looking around in a store that big.

If you ever have the opportunity, visit Ameboa Records in Los Angeles. You'll lose your mind.

The place is HUGE with records and cd's as far as the eye can see. They actually hand out maps at the front of the store. I spent 5 hours in there the one time I went and didn't even make it to the 2nd floor.

Me too. (sighs)

MetalGuy71 wrote:

manny wrote:

I wish record/CD stores like Crazy Eddie's still existed, a store that big with that much inventory, I could get lost shopping and looking around in a store that big.

If you ever have the opportunity, visit Ameboa Records in Los Angeles. You'll lose your mind.

The place is HUGE with records and cd's as far as the eye can see. They actually hand out maps at the front of the store. I spent 5 hours in there the one time I went and didn't even make it to the 2nd floor.

The one in the old bowling alley at Haight/Ashbury is huge too.

James B. wrote:

MetalGuy71 wrote:

manny wrote:

I wish record/CD stores like Crazy Eddie's still existed, a store that big with that much inventory, I could get lost shopping and looking around in a store that big.

If you ever have the opportunity, visit Ameboa Records in Los Angeles. You'll lose your mind.

The place is HUGE with records and cd's as far as the eye can see. They actually hand out maps at the front of the store. I spent 5 hours in there the one time I went and didn't even make it to the 2nd floor.

The one in the old bowling alley at Haight/Ashbury is huge too.

There is 3 or 4 stores, isn't there? I've only been to the one in downtown LA.

I hit up a local hole in the wall called Esoteric Records. Lotsa buried treasure there and since they actually really like records you will find them well taken care of.... unless they are in the $1 or .25 cent bin.

After the Crazy Eddie store in my home town (Paramus, NJ) closed in '89 or so, it became a Tower Records (which was even BETTER of course) so that location was my home base for music for a good 20 years straight.

When Tower went outta business in '06 it sat vacant for a couple of years but last I looked there was a Goodwill thrift store in there now.

This thread got me looking up all the stores that used to be around here but are now defunct (at least as brick and mortar locations).

I still miss the days of wandering into a record store on a Saturday afternoon and rummaging through the used bins. I'd also check out the various endcap displays where store employees would post obscure new releases that they liked. I'd slip on the headphones and sample the recommended stuff. I found more weird, esoteric bands that way.

Fat Freddy wrote:

exact33 wrote:

didnt he get busted for Tax Evasion or something?

Securities fraud, I believe. As the chain was starting to go down the drain he fiddled with the books and then tried to skip to Israel with a sh*t load of the company's money. He was caught, extradited back to the U.S. and did some time. It was quite the news story in its day. "Duuuude! Crazy Eddie's going to jail!"

He should have come up with an "Insanity" plea...it might have worked, since he was known as Crazy Eddie.

My brother and I would plan whole Saturdays hitting all the used cd shops around Portland.

Here's a commercial of one of the places I used to shop for music:

Here's a picture of a sign of the other place I used to shop for music:



They also has a Metal section. They sold Kerrang! and it's where I would pick it up. The sold all the metal imports that you couldn't find anywhere else. They had an AWESOME selection. I remember piching up the Music For Nations (UK Version) of W.A.S.P's Animal when it first came out. This place was awesome!

Sadly, they are no longer in business. Not due to the death of the local record store, but the federal agents raided the 'Smoke Shop' in the back of the store. They had 6 or 7 stores in the area and they all had 'smoke shops' in the back. The agents didn't believe the sign that read "for tobacco use only" and thought that the bongs, etc where used to smoke marijuana. Of course, prior to the raid everyone knew about the 'smoke shop'. My parents forbid me to shop there because of it. Of course, that didn't stop me So sad to see a great Record store die for selling "drug paraphernalia"

Joker - that's hilarious. There was a store in my town in the '80s called "World Imports" that sold rock t-shirts and other music merch which also had a "smoke shop" in back, they were busted and shut down by the cops too. I was really bummed about it, I never went into the fabled "back room" there cuz I wasn't a smoker (at the time anyway -- *cough cough*) but they always had the best selection of concert shirts. I bought a ton of'em there when I was in high school.

In So. California back in the mid to late 70's, the head shops sold posters, incense, dragon and wizard brick a brack and t-shirts on the side. And those "import" concert lps you couldn't purchase at regular outlets. Eventually, the head shop got moved in the back and more music product came in as the years went by.

Are you allowed to sell "water pipes" on ebay? For novelty use only, of course.

I have a couple that have been boxed up and hidden away in the basement for many years now. I'd hate to just throw them away as they were quite expensive at the time. I no longer have a use for them, but I don't want to end up like Tommy Chong if I listed them on ebay or Craigslist.

Dunno what the rules are for something like that, MG. Maybe if you claim they're "modern sculptures?"

I visit a big outdoor flea market in the Poconos every year or so and there's a guy there who runs a huge booth full of water pipes, rolling papers, black lights, tie-dye t-shirts, etc., etc... they have a big sign over the 'smoking accessories' that sez they are to be used "FOR USE WITH TOBACCO ONLY," which always makes me chuckle.

The local tobacco shop by me also has a sign on the door warning customers that the smoking supplies they sell are for LEGAL USE only and anyone who asks about using them for, ahem, "other" reasons will be asked to leave. Though sometimes when I stop in there late at night, there's a big gang of people in the cigar lounge playing cards and judging from the odor wafting over from the card table, I don't think they're all using said supplies for "legal" reasons, if you catch my drift.